• Auschwitz was one of many death camps set up by Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust to eliminate people (mostly Jews) he considered not qualified to be a part of the superior Aryan race he was determined to establish.

• 1. Location: Southern Poland
  2. Comprised of Auschwitz I, II, III, and 46 subcamps
  3. First prisoners arrived on May 20, 1940
  4. Millions of people died during the Holocaust, around 1.5 million of those at Auschwitz (the exact number is unknown)
  5. 90% of the victims were Jews
  6. Some other "undesirables" included homosexuals and Gypsies, as well as those who were mentally or physically handicapped
  7. Most executions were implemented in gas chambers
  8. Victims were also starved, shot, tortured, beaten, and/or suffocated
  9. "Medical experiments" were performed on several prisoners
  10. Allies initially dismissed the claims of mass murders at Auschwitz as "exaggerations"
  11. Anne Frank died at Auschwitz

• Liberation

  Though most prisoners were evacuated by the Nazis in January, 1945, over 7,000 were liberated by the Soviet military ten days later.

• Auschwitz Today

  Today, the Auschwitz site is a Museums|museum open to the public. It serves as a tribute and memorial to those who were killed there during World War II, and a reminder of the atrocities that occured.

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